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the generous-minded man and the lover of his country, who can hesitate to choose? With these perfidious men no promise is secure, no pledges sacred.

Let us suppose, which Heaven avert, that we are conquered; let us suppose an accommodation. What assurance have we of the British moderation in victory, or good faith in treaty? Is it their having enlisted and let loose against us the ferocious Indians, and the merciless soldiers of Germany? Is it that faith, so often pledged and so often violated in the course of the present contest; this British faith, which is reported more false than Punic? We ought rather to expect, that when we shall have fallen naked and unarmed into their hands, they will wreak upon us their fury and their vengeance; they will load us with heavier chains, in order to deprive us not only of the power, but even of the hope of again recovering our liberty. But I am willing to admit, although it is a thing without example, that the British government will forget past offences and perform its promises, can we imagine, that after so long dissensions, after so many outrages, so many combats, and so much bloodshed, our reconciliation could be durable, and that every day, in the midst of so much hatred and rancour, would not afford some fresh subject of animosity? The two nations are already separated in interest and affections; the one is conscious of its ancient strength, the other has become acquainted with its newly-exerted force; the one desires to rule in an arbitrary manner, the other will not obey even if allowed its privileges. In such a state of things, what peace, what concord can be expected?

The Americans may become faithful friends to the English, but subjects, never. And even though union could be restored without rancour, it could not without danger. The wealth and power of Great Britain should inspire prudent men with fears for the future. Having reached such a height of grandeur that she has no longer any thing to dread from foreign powers, in the security of peace the spirit of her people will decay, manners will be corrupted, her youth will grow up in the midst of vice, and in this state of degeneration, England will become the přey of a foreign enemy, or an ambitious citizen. If we remain united with her, we shall partake of her corruptions and misfortunes, the more to be dreaded as they will be irrepa

rable; separated from her, on the contrary, as we are, we should neither have to fear the seductions of peace nor the dangers of war. By a declaration of our freedom, the perils would not be increased; but we should add to the ardour of our defenders, and to the splendour of victory. Let us then take a firm step, and escape from this labyrinth; we have assumed the sovereign power, and dare not confess it; we disobey a king, and acknowledge ourselves his subjects; wage war against a people, on whom we incessantly protest our desire to depend. What is the consequence of so many inconsistencies? Hesitation paralyses all our measures; the way we ought to pursue, is not marked out; our generals are neither respected nor obeyed; our soldiers have neither confidence nor zeal; feeble at home, and little considered abroad, foreign princes can neither esteem nor succour so timid and wavering a people. But independence once proclaimed and our object avowed, more manly and decided measures will be adopted; all minds will be fired by the greatness of the enterprise, the civil magistrates will be inspired with new zeal, the generals with fresh ardour, and the citizens with greater constancy, to attain so high and so glorious a destiny.

There are some who seem to dread the effects of this resolution. But will England, or can she, manifest against us greater vigour and rage than she has already displayed? She deems resistance against oppression no less rebellion than independence itself. And where are those formidable troops that are to subdue the Americans? What the English could not do, can it be done by Germans? Are they more brave, or better disciplined? The number of our enemies is increased; but our own is not diminished, and the battles we have sustained have given us the practice of arms and the experience of war. Who doubts, then, that a declaration of independence will procure us allies? All nations are desirous of procuring, by commerce, the productions of our exuberant soil; they will visit our ports, hitherto closed by the monopoly of insatiable England. They are no less eager to contemplate the reduction of her hated power; they all loathe her barbarous dominion; their succours will evince to our brave countrymen the gratitude they bear them for having been the first to shake the foundations of this Colossus. Foreign princes

wait only for the extinction of all hazard of reconciliation to throw off their present reserve.

If this measure is useful, it is no less becoming our dignity. America has arrived at a degree of power which assigns her a place among independent nations; we are not less entitled to it than the English themselves. If they have wealth, so also have we; if they are brave, so are we; if they are more numerous, our population, through the incredible fruitfulness of our chaste wives, will soon equal theirs; if they have men of renown as well in peace as in war, we likewise have such; political revolutions usually produce great, brave, and generous spirits. From what we have already achieved in these painful beginnings, it is easy to presume what we shall hereafter accomplish; for experience is the source of sage counsels, and liberty is the mother of great men. Have you not seen the enemy driven from Lexington by thirty thousand citizens armed and assembled in one day? Already their most celebrated generals have yielded in Boston to the skill of ours: already their seamen, repulsed from our coasts, wander over the ocean, where they are the sport of tempest, and the prey of famine. Let us hail the favourable omen, and fight not for the sake of knowing on what terms we are to be the slaves of England, but to secure to ourselves a free existence, to found a just and independent government. Animated by liberty, the Greeks repulsed the innumerable army of Persians; sustained by the love of independence, the Swiss and the Dutch humbled the power of Austria by memorable defeats, and conquered a rank among nations. But the sun of America also shines upon the heads of the brave; the point of our weapons is no less formidable than theirs; here also the same union prevails, the same contempt of dangers and of death in asserting the cause of country.

Why then do we longer delay, why still deliberate ? Let this most happy day give birth to the American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace and of the laws. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us; she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may contrast, by the felicity of the citizens, with the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum

where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. She entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil, where that generous plant which first sprung up and grew in England, but is now withered by the poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may revive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and interminable shade all the unfortunate of the human race. This is the end presaged by so many omens, by our first victories, by the present ardour and union, by the flight of Howe, and the pestilence which broke out among Dunmore's people, by the very winds which baffled the enemy's fleets and transports, and that terrible tempest which ingulfed seven hundred vessels upon the coasts of Newfoundland. If we are not this day wanting in our duty to country, the names of the American legislators will be placed, by posterity, at the side of those of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all those whose memory has been, and will be, for ever dear to virtuous men and good citizens. LEE.

16.-SPEECH OF PATRICK HENRY BEFORE THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF DELEGATES, MARCH, 1775.

MR. PRESIDENT,—It is natural for man to indulge in the illlusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth-and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is it the part of wise men engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things, which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp, by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future, but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know, what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry, for the last ten years, to justify those hopes, with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house.

Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has

been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations, which cover our waters and darken our land?

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in, to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation-the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other motive for it?

Has Great Britain any other enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir: she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministers have been so long forging.

And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we any thing new to offer on the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.

Sir, we have done every thing that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned we have remonstrated-we have supplicated-we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne.

In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges, for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to aban

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